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Description
Overfishing is depleting commercial stocks worldwide with many species being adversely affected due to intentional or unintentional catch (“bycatch”). Trawls alone, are responsible for the greatest bycatch rates worldwide1 (40%), and in the south of Portugal, crustacean bottom trawlers (CBT) have an alarming bycatch average of 70%2. This calls for better management and monitoring procedures and technologies. Thus, project EMREP’s main goal is to improve fishing data collection and reporting capabilities by modernizing electronic data management systems to maximize the potential benefits from the Blue Economy. Three main activities will be conducted in this project, namely i) stakeholder engagement and requirement analysis; ii) development and customization of Electronic Data collection and Reporting tools (iEMR); and iii) field testing and application of iEMR for scientific purposes. This will be achieved by, customising, deploying and testing the Olrac electronic fishing logbook from the promotor company OLSPS. Olrac will collect detailed operational and environmental data coupled with gear sensors (e.g. sea temperature, depth and salinity) and synchronize it with video footage and images collected using onboard cameras from the Norwegian partner company Imenco. The collection of this data is crucial to form part of a PhD study from the partner University of Algarve, which will evaluate the bycatch of elasmobranchs from CBT in the south of Portugal. Not only will the customized Olrac iEMR will improve the quality of fisheries data for scientific and control purposes, but fishers will also benefit from a more selective fishery through a bycatch avoidance tool, and a more cost-effective system compared to industry funded at-sea observers, and the existing compliant paper and electronic logbooks.
Summary of project results
Effective monitoring and reporting of fisheries are crucial for successful fisheries management. Electronic Monitoring and Reporting systems (EMR) are emerging as a solution to combat biased information and address issues like illegal fishing and unreported bycatch. The EMREP project in Portugal aimed to develop a tailored EMR solution to enhance monitoring and reporting within the Portuguese fishing industry. Additionally, it sought to provide valuable scientific data to improve our understanding of elasmobranch bycatch in the deep-sea crustacean bottom-trawl fisheries of the Algarve region, addressing a major Blue Growth problem in fisheries, namely the lack of reliable data gathering, through the digitization of processes.
The project involved collaboration with stakeholders from the fishing industry and utilized the Olrac eLog technology developed by OLSPS, tailored for the Portuguese crustacean bottom trawl fleet. An integrated Electronic Monitoring and Reporting solution, called Olrac iEMR utility, was created by integrating high-tech marine cameras provided by the partner Imenco SA. This tool was utilized in the scope of a PhD study conducted by the partner University of Algarve to analyze discards of endangered species like sharks and skates in the crustacean bottom trawl industry in southern Portugal. The Olrac iEMR tool allowed recorded camera images to be viewed and stored in the OlracDDL dashboard, facilitating the auditing of reported information and enabling the identification of protected or endangered species caught in the nets. The capability of footage analysis in identifying demersal and deep-sea elasmobranchs was validated by the at-sea observer’s data, albeit it presented some challenges in species-level identification due to fishing and sorting procedures.
The results highlighted that deep-sea sharks and skates share regions where crustacean bottom trawlers operate in southern Portugal and experience high mortality rates when caught, indicating a direct impact of fishing activities on these species. Factors such as fishing depths, haul durations, vessel speed, and air exposure were found to be positively correlated with their mortality rates. More information can be found in the Scientific report (annex n° 3).The Olrac iEMR system demonstrated its potential to expedite the feedback process of analyzed fisheries data, aiding fishery managers in decision-making, improving data collection and treatment for the scientific community, and encouraging more selective fishing practices. The project not only aimed to fill knowledge gaps, particularly regarding unreported discarded catch like deep-sea sharks and skates, but also aimed to advance monitoring and reporting technology not only in Portugal but also globally.
Summary of bilateral results
The EMREP project in Portugal had the objective of developing a customized EMR solution to enhance monitoring and reporting in the Portuguese fishing industry. To achieve this goal, Imenco SA, a prominent global provider of high-end subsea cameras, partnered with the project and supplied the high-tech marine cameras that were installed on the test vessels for monitoring and recording fishing activities. This collaboration with Imenco SA provided the project team with access to cutting-edge marine cameras and technical support, which would not have been possible without this partnership. Throughout the project timeline, both OLSPS and Imenco SA collaborated to integrate the onboard cameras with the OlracDDL dashboard, resulting in the Olrac iEMR solution. This integration enabled the viewing and storage of recorded images within the OlracDDL dashboard, simplifying the auditing of the information reported by the skippers and facilitating the identification of protected or endangered species caught in the nets. While there are currently no plans to continue the partnership, the cameras provided by Imenco are still installed on the commercial vessel, and the testing of the Olrac iEMR solution is ongoing.